


Surprise

by Maarkriifaas (orphan_account)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon Universe, Closeted, Confusion, Explicit Language, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, General Uncertainty, I Don't Even Know, I'm Sorry, M/M, No Smut, Ok Not Quite Screw You Ereri But No Ereri, Screw You Ereri, Sorry Not Sorry, Surprise Motherfuckers, Surprises, a lot of fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-25
Updated: 2015-04-25
Packaged: 2018-03-25 08:42:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3804067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Maarkriifaas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While it's not a secret anymore that Levi and Erwin are (somewhat) together, none of the soldiers dare to talk about it. And every time a new batch of recruits join the Corps, it only leads to awkward stares and questions. Tired of putting up with it, Levi decides to not explain anything anymore, figuring it should be obvious enough to anyone who wasn't blind, and if they cared that much they could ask anyone else for all he cared.</p><p>Of course though, Levi has trouble expressing himself, and instead becomes a nervous wreck. Havoc ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know. I DON'T KNOW.
> 
> ~Maar

It was such a pain in the ass honestly, explaining time and time again to each and every one of them. Enough already. Every year they had to endure more moronic stares, like blank sheep, whether it was something so innocent as a sideways glance, or something.. less innocent. 

But, this year was different, Levi promised himself. This year, he wasn't going to fuck around like a fish out of water, he was just going to  _own it_. 

Or at least that's what he'd told himself. If he could own something quite so awkward that is.

"Corporal?" Eren stood in front of him, eyes wide. "Are you alright?" He must have been staring off into space or something, because for some reason he was giving him a concerned look.

"Fine." He looked dully from shallow cut to shallow cut, each Titan only having a pitiful scratch on the back of its neck. "Go get Erwin. I need to talk to him right now. I'm going to slit my own wrists if I have to deal with one more cadet making a sloppy cut." He wasn't in the mood to explain anything to Jaegar, specifically when it would only create a whole lot more questions than it would answer. The brat didn't know when to close his shitty mouth.

"Right now sir? We're in the middle of traini--"

" _Now,_ Eren." He didn't mind yelling in front of the other cadets either, which was clearly something new to them from the baffled expressions on their faces. Shadis had been going soft if they weren't used to being yelled at by now. "I need to speak to the Commander  _now_. For fuck's sake just find him."

"Yes sir!" Eren stumbled off in the direction of the headquarters, and Levi turned back to the rest of the cadets.

"That wasn't an excuse to stop your training you know," he hissed, and they all snapped into salutes. The two sloppiest came from the same direction, to no surprise, Sasha Braus and Connie Springer. Feeling a little malicious, he glared daggers at them, eyes narrowing to slits before stalking up. "And you two are fucking around because of what again? Do you really want to become Titan food, or should we spare you the embarrassment by using you as bait to begin with?"

Sasha was shivering and cowering as she answered, while Connie simply looked as though he'd been smacked. "No, sir!"

"Good." He spun around on his heel to face another set of trainees, when a rumbling voice came out of nowhere behind him.

"Now, Levi, was that really necessary?"

"Ah, Erwin." He looked the smiling man in the eye as though he'd just murdered his entire family, then to Eren's panting figure behind him. "Good job Jaegar, that was amazingly quick," he said, throwing him something from his pocket.

"He was already walking over anyways," Eren murmured quietly, holding the item curiously in his hand. "Is this a--"

"Dog biscuit, yes. We normally reserve them for the hunting dogs in the MP, but you've been a good Titan. Boy. Thing." He ignored the indignant squawk and looked back to Erwin. "Now, Commander, would you try and help me teach these idiots how to properly take down a real Titan?"

Erwin simply shrugged and put his hands on his waist. "If humanity's strongest can't, I doubt I could."

"Stop being such a pretentious asshole and put your gear on Shitwin."

The cadets were silent as he moved to obey, both because of the lack of censorship even with the Commander and the fact he was actually listening to what Levi was ordering. They moved together, lining up on the ground maybe a hundred yards from the Titan cutout. 

"Formation six?" Erwin suggested.

"Following."

One moment they stood next to each other, then next they were two synchronized blurs. Levi considerably faster than Erwin, but somehow both harmonizing with each other despite being so different in speed and stature. They had closed in on the Titan in seconds,  Erwin snipping the rubber tendons out of both ankles while Levi cut down on the nape, a gaping slice missing that was almost as large as he was tall.

He landed smoothly in front of the cadets and had barely opened his mouth to lecture them, when Erwin crashed out of nowhere into him. 

"Corporal!" he heard Eren shout, and both cursed and praised him for his blind devotion. Cracking his spine back into place, Levi sat up somewhat shakily, rubbing his head.

"Are you alright?"

The deep voice came from above him, and he had to tilt his head backwards to meet his gaze. A strong arm held him upright and his back was propped against Erwin's knee.

"I'm fine, no thanks to you, asshole," he said, brushing the dust from his pants and standing. He wobbled slightly, and Erwin lunged forward again to hold him up.

"I think that's enough for today Levi. Kirsctein, go find Mike and tell him to take over for us." 

"No, I'm fine, I insist. Go back to HQ Erwin, I'm fine." Levi tried to walk forwards and fell on his face. He felt himself being picked up from behind and began fighting it a little, but Erwin refused to let him go.

"Kirsctein?" 

"Yes, sir!"

"Let me _go_ you blonde gorilla!" Levi pounded against his chest and Erwin smiled, while the trainees watched in awe. This was nothing like whatever they'd seen before. It added a whole new level of complicated to their already confusing superior officers.

Erwin simply laughed at his useless struggling and began walking with him still clenched in his arms. "I thought you said to go back to HQ?"

Their bickering faded away, leaving the cadets still standing like deer in the headlights when Mike finally did arrive.

 

* * *

  

The mess hall was loud. Head-splittingly, ear-achingly loud. It was also, as stated in the name, a mess, and Levi wasn't sure how much time he could spend there before going absolutely insane. So, as usual, without a second thought, he grabbed the closest plate he could and made straight for the exit at lunch. The bandages around his head and arm for the long red scratches were still a vile reminder of yesterday morning's embarrassment, and the last shitty person he wanted to see toda--

"Oh hello Levi." A piece of wall seemed to be talking to him as he bumped into it trying to escape.

" _Fuck._ "

He must have spoken aloud, because he could have felt every pair of eyes in the room boring into the back of his skull when Erwin laughed. "That's not quite what I was looking to do right now, but if you're in for it, I might be." He tried to pull him towards his chest, but Levi sidestepped him.

"Don't act like that in front of all these people you idiot, not when they're watching at least," he hissed furiously. "Do you want the awkward questions to start again?"

No sooner had he said the words did Gunther and Erd walk by, laughing and chatting about the day. Gunther's head swivelled towards them, and he called out, "Get some, Corporal!" before turning around and continuing his conversation. 

"That was strangely blunt of him," Erwin commented, looking mildly surprised. "Do you have any idea why? I think he's trying to tell us something." he said, his face filled with lust.

"Cut the sappy-fuckeyes shit. I've got work to do, the kind that involves a desk."

"I wouldn't mind working with you over my desk." The cold blue glare no longer resembled something he wanted, but more something he hated. That overwhelmingly dominant aura he tried to push on that pissed him off so much, like he was better than him. Better in rank, better in person and better in bed. 

"God  _fucking_  dammit Erwin." Levi pushed by him into the hallway to a surprised reaction, and was already halfway to his office when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

He whirled around irritably, his teeth ready to rip out whoever's throat had dared bother him again. As far as he was concerned, Erwin was included if not the sole member of that group, and just by the blonde hair he was already pretty certain he knew it was him anyways.

"What is it you fucking _useless piece of shi_ \-- I mean Arlert." He had to suppress his anger and put on a poker face again. Yelling at Erwin was one thing, Jaegar was one thing, Mike and Hanji were one thing, but if he yelled at Armin, it would be about the same as yelling at a bunnyrabbit. 

"Sorry sir!" he stammered, then took a deep breath, trying to control his voice.

"Speak clearly, Aryan Coconut."

Armin flinched at the nickname. "It's just the Commander. He, ah, he's still standing there. And he doesn't look like he's going to be moving for a while."

"And?"

"Well, ah, are you and him, er.."

"What."

"..per se, I mean, in theory and nothing more.."

"Get to the fucking point already!" he shouted.

"..er, together? I mean dating and all?" He sped up his talking considerably. "I mean if you're not no surprise there because you could just be very close friends but it's just you seem close and very personal and see if that were the case it would make a lot more sense sinc--"

"Why do you care?" he growled, a guttural snarl hitched in his throat.

"I'm just curious sir."

"Well, why don't you take your curiosity, stick it to Erwin's dick, and shove it up your ass?" Levi was trembling now, his plates dangerously close to being thrown. He didn't want to talk about this.

Armin looked down, then back up, a hesitant but still clearly intrigued expression on his face as it flushed red at the comment. "Is that a yes, or a no, sir?"

" _Yes_ ," he snapped. "And it's really not relevant so it would be nice if you could ignore or possibly forget it altogether." He stalked down the hallway, his dishes clanking against each other with every hateful step.

The questions about Erwin were starting, both his own and the cadets.

 

* * *

  

 "Levi?"

It was only later that night he dared poke his head in his Corporal's office, and even then, only because it was raining and he knew he'd need him. Lightning raced across the black, slicing the stars in half and dying the sky purple. The thunder that followed after was close, and loud, and the bundle of sheets on the bed quivered like jello. 

"Hey, Levi." he said gently, wrapping his arms around him. "Levi, Levi, Levi, shhh." His name became a quiet chant, repeated again and again until the blankets stopped shaking, and fell softly against his chest. Another boom of thunder though, and the shivering was back, relentless as before. "It's alright. It's just rain. Just water. The lightning almost never actually strikes anything."

There was a muffled, ".. _almost!_ " from the sheets as they began to move more violently, then lashed out at him. "Stop it. Go away. I don't need you!"

"You don't have to try and be strong all the time you know."

" _I'm strong enough without you!_ "

Another flash and his arms were practically thrown back around him with a small whimper. Erwin had to try and not laugh, mainly because all that would do was upset him more. "Hey, it'll be fine. And it's going to be autumn soon too, which means no more thunderstorms. Only long, cold, winter nights, when I have an excuse to cuddle with you." He nuzzled where he thought his head was under the fabric and whispered, "You know what that means as well, right?"

"Yes."

"Snow. I'll bet I can beat you in a snowfight."

"Erwin, we are grown men. We don't do snowfights," the blankets mumbled skeptically, then fell silent again as another series of tremors followed at the continuous downpour. Erwin stared at the sky, holding him close.

"Hey, what do you think the snow and rain is anyways Levi?"

"It's water."

"Nothing more poetic?" Erwin inquired, his eyebrows raised.

"I don't know. It's water. What else should it be?"

"Well," he mumbled, thinking back a little. "When I was little and wasn't a smoking hot Commander who was scared of nothing," he said, and Levi scoffed, "I used to be scared of thunder too. But then my mother had the most beautiful metaphor for it, trying to coax me out of the covers one night, and since then I haven't ever really been that afraid."

A moment of curious silence followed, and a tiny whump as Levi fell back into his lap completely. 

"She used to say it was like the stars were coming down to kiss the earth goodnight, and lightning was just their voices saying they loved us. It was silly, but I always liked it. "

"That's a new level of idiotic Shitwin," came the muffled reply. "I feel so much better that the stars fucking hate me so much. Can I die now?"

"If you died, I'd be sad though," Erwin said, through mock tears as he wrapped himself around him and muffles his voice even further. "Don't die please Levi."

A long silence stretched painfully between them, in which Levi poked his head out, only to have a kiss planted on his nose and dart back under the sheets. He curled into Erwin's side, and he in turn pushed the blanket back on his head, so they could both watch the rain pour down in the darkness of the window. Electricity still crackled through the atmosphere, but it didn't seem half as scary once it had been interpreted as a stupid voice.

Admittedly though, it wasn't exactly a voice he'd have been happy with if Erwin hadn't been there.

Snuggled into each other, the warmth from their bodies seeped through the blanket as their quiet breathing lulled them both into a deep sleep, hands still clutched together.

 

* * *

 

Light made its way through the curtains, of course only directly into where his head was on the on the pillow. Erwin groaned as the sunlight relentlessly pounded down, a cheerful ray of let's-wake-you-up-you-sucker, and reluctantly opened his eyes groggily to stare down at the raven-headed man asleep on his chest. He pushed a hair out of Levi's eyes before quietly setting him down and sitting up.

Water still dripped from the roof onto the deep green leaves of the trees around the building, and the air smelled like fresh rain and life. He took a deep breath, holding it in his chest and trying to savour it before exhaling. The other wonderful thing about thunderstorms was how they smelled, he could only barely imagine how Mike would be feeling this morning. Trying to be as gentle as possible, he brushed a hand over his forehead again and again and concentrated on the simple movement. 

That was another thing he loved; how peaceful he looked when he slept. Life had taken its terrible toll harshly on all of them, and no one looked more stoic when awake than Levi. When he was asleep and far away though, he relaxed, and seemed almost at ease with the world. He was asleep so little, it was rare Erwin even got to see him like this.

He sat, running his fingers over him and watching his chest rise and fall gently for maybe twenty minutes before he too started to stir. His eyelids finally fluttered open, and eyes like faint wisps of dark fog on a white background stared back.

"You really are a perverted old fart aren't you?"

The voice that hissed out from between his clenched teeth was barely audible, and Erwin laughed loudly. "Good morning to you too. Feeling better?"

"No," he snorted, though in complete honesty, neither one of them was wholly certain if it was sarcastic or not.

I'm sorry, Erwin wanted to say. Instead he said, "I'm still tired."

"Then lie back down and relax," Levi purred, pulling him by the collar of his shirt and hovering not even an inch away from Erwin's lips. "I'm not mad anymore, so you don't have to worry about me smothering you either. Not with pillows at least."

Erwin hooked his hands around his back and almost had time to pull him closer, when a sudden series of footsteps came racing down the hallway and the door was thrown open. Auruo was framed in the doorway, looking as though he'd run a ten mile marathon. His expression morphed from urgency, to confusion, to complete bafflement in less than a second.

"Captain Levi! I- er, -wait what?"

"What indeed," Levi deadpanned, while Erwin was still shellshocked under him. He rolled off and sat crosslegged on the bed.

"Bad time." Auruo averted his eyes, a disgusted frown creasing his brow before he spoke again. His tone made Levi want to kick the sour expression off him. "Sorry to interrupt, we're in need of your help with the cadets. Again."

"It's what time already?"

"Maybe around noon? I don't know."

"Shit. I overslept. Get out there and I'll be out soon." Levi groaned into his hands.

"Yes, Captain."

Auruo disappeared, and Levi went into the bathroom to change. They both left only five minutes later, Erwin with the blankets tugged around his dirty uniform from the previous day in a cape stumbling after him down the hallway. 

"Levi? _Levi? Leviiii.._ " He repeated his name the entire walk, until finally he snapped at him when they stepped outside and were nearing the group.

" _What is it Erwin?_ Take that off, you look ridiculous."

"Nonsense. It's cold."

"Erwin, please. I am _trying_ to be _serious_."

"Am I going to get my kiss Levi?" he asked sweetly, almost innocently.

He rolled his eyes. "We're too close. People will see."

"Let them."

Groaning, Levi finally cracked and pulled him in for a quick peck, then tried to stalk off. He was interrupted by Erwin throwing his arms around him and dragging his face upwards again, this time slower, less rushed, and his legs felt stiff. He couldn't have moved if his life depended on it.

They gradually fell away, and it was only then he noticed the whole field had gone silent. Hanji wolf-whistled, pointing them out to all the cadets. He glared at her a moment, long enough to see her grin, before he looked back up at the other people. The only two who weren't freaking out were Armin, who'd hidden his head in his hands and was muttering " _I'm not seeing this, I'm not seeing this,_ " and Mikasa, who stared forward impassively. 

"What the hell shitty glasses!" he screeched at her, and she cackled like a hyena. Erwin simply winked at the cadets before vanishing once again into HQ.

"Oh. My. _God._ "

"The _Commander_ and the _Corporal_?" _  
_

"Wha--!?"

Levi ignored the comments and walked straight up to Hanji, still grinning like an idiot. "Wipe that smile off your face, you look like you just swallowed a canary." He glared down at the rest of the group until they quieted, then nodded slightly. 

"Right. I overslept today, but that doesn't mean you imbeciles get to slack off." Someone tried to speak, but Levi cut them off short. "Shut up. Now, when it comes to your specific methods of taking down a Titan, we have only ten main formations, so pay attention. We'll be looking into how they can change slightly based on the situation later, so I expect thme memprized as well." 

A hand shot up into the air, and was being waved around.

"Yes?"

"Are you and the Commander together, or what?"

Levi considered beating the asker, but hesitated. Instead he raised an eyebrow and smothered his shame in pride. 

"You didn't _know_?"


End file.
